The Renaissance

• As Europe’s Trade and Growth of Cities was reviving again in the Late Middle Ages,

the Plague struck.

• The only way to avoid the disease was for people to leave the city for the country.

This solution was, unfortunately, available only to the wealthy.

• The population decrease caused by the plague led to an economic depression.

Merchants and tradespeople had fewer people to whom they could sell their wares.

• Economic hardship spread as those who dealt with the merchants--bankers, suppliers,

and shippers--also lost revenue.

• As the plague decreased at the start of the 1400s (15th c.), populations swelled,

creating a new demand for goods and services. A new wealthy middle class emerged again – bankers, merchants, tradespeople and educated professionals.

• With the people’s respect of the once all-powerful Church weakened following its many

problems during the Middle Ages, this new educated, wealthy class began to pursue more secular and human interests – art, science, philosophy, etc. The invention of the printing press would lead to increased literacy among the people, the rapid spread of new knowledge, and education of the masses.

Describe the Renaissance

• “Rebirth” • Great changes in society and

religion• Rediscovery of the classics

(Greek & Roman)• Emphasis on power of human

reasoning• Significant advances in science

& art

Basic Feelings

• Secular - dealt with the ‘here and now’; did not worry so much about offending God

• Spent money on the arts & beautifying cities

• Strive to be “Universal Man” or “Renaissance Man”

• Vernacular - native language Vitruvian Man by da Vinci

Why did it happen?

• Connection with other empires– African & Arab societies

• Curiosity for knowledge***AND***

• Italian city-states – Rich from trade (Naples, Florence, Milan, Rome)– More urban than rest of Europe

• Medici Family – rich as bankers, heads of state– Patron: financed or invested in the arts

Who were the Humanists?• Studied philosophy, literature and

history• Critical comparison of historic

documents• Learned Hebrew to decipher original

manuscript of the Bible• Important to understand how things

worked– Emphasis on Education

• Latin or vernacular?• Printing Press invented! (1450)

Why was the printingpress so important?

• Social, Economic & Technological advancement…

• Technological: 1st time EVER – moveable type

• Social: Printing books, manuscripts, Bible in native language

• Economic: Accessibility to lower class, poor

Who were some Renaissance Writers?

• Petrarch – Sonnets to Laura• Dante Alighieri – The Divine Comedy• Boccaccio – Decameron• Machiavelli – The Prince• Thomas More - Utopia (From England)• Desiderus Erasmus – Enchiridion militis

Christiani (Handbook of a Christian Knight)– From Holland

• William Shakespeare - England

“Being a good ruler means sometimes doing the unpopular in order to achieve what is best for one’s people in the long run.”

“The End justifies the Means.”

“A shrewd politician knows he may have to sometimes employ devious methods if he is to stay in power.”

“At any given time a ruler may be faced with sending men to their deaths in battle. He must be willing to sacrifice those few in order to save the many.”

“Rulers can not be expected to live under the same “morality” as the masses they rule. They must at times choose corrupt, distasteful, even evil means in order to achieve a final good for their people.”

“It is better that a Ruler should be feared by his people than loved by them.”

~ Machiavelli

DO YOU AGREE or DISAGREE?

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian statesman and writer and is considered one of the most significant political thinkers of the Renaissance. His best-known work, The Prince, describes cunning and unscrupulous methods for rulers to gain and keep power.

A.) The Prince (1532; trans. 1640) - describes the method by which a prince can acquire and maintain political power.

B.) It is believed he was defending the tyranny of such cruel rulers of his day as Cesare Borgia.

C.) He believed that a ruler is not bound by traditional ethical norms like the people the ruler’s rules should be.

D.) a prince should be concerned only with power and be bound only by rules that would lead to success in political actions. “The End justifies the Means.” “Better to be feared than loved.”

E.) believed that these rules could be discovered by deduction from the political practices of the time, as well as from those of earlier periods.

Who were some Renaissance Artists?

• Michelangelo – ceiling of Sistine Chapel (Rome)

• da Vinci – The Last Supper• Giotto Bondone - realist painter & architect

from Florence– Madonna and Child Enthroned

• Masaccio – Madonna with Child & Angels• Raphael – madonnas in Papal chambers of

the Vatican• Botticelli – Birth of Venus & Primavera

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